by Mongezi Mtati (@Mongezi) A little influence goes a long way in building traction for campaigns, and it’s that, and the possibility of going viral, that can be beneficial for charity initiatives. Influence, however, may be a double-edged sword, not always eliciting the response you desire.
Social media timelines were recently abuzz with cancer-support awareness and pledges, some of which received great traction, others which drew criticism and some of which rose quietly through the ranks, making their way through the noisy social web.
If you have used any social media platform for long, you have likely seen your fair share of ‘share this, and someone in the story gets that’ posts, but how many times have you seen a tangible result from sharing or liking these posts?
The need to reach more people with a lasting message of awareness sometimes gets lost in the journey of making more noise and gathering shares.
To understand the challenges inherent in creating campaigns, particularly when raising awareness for a particular social cause, I’ve taken a look at some of the more recent campaigns that have graced the various social media platforms.
Influence vs novelty conundrum
One of the most successful charity campaigns that was adopted globally in 2014 and hit South Africa by storm, with video after social media post being published, was the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Ice Bucket Challenge.
According to Wikipedia “The most commonly accepted origin credits Pete Frates, a Bostonian who was diagnosed with ALS in March 2012”. It was later adopted by celebrities in the US, and SA soon followed suit, with many people dumping a bucket of ice water over their heads.
It was fun; even the late-to-the-party TV news channels showed some of their teams splashing themselves for a cause, some in winter in SA, and awareness spread like the proverbial wild fire.
This challenge — with the hashtag #ALSIceBucketChallenge — was also criticised on some noteworthy platforms as being problematic and promoting the trend, more than driving awareness for ALS, which is known as Motor Neurone Disease (MND) in SA.
Jacob Davidson wrote that most of the videos that went viral did not make reference to the cause itself and, although funds were raised, the challenge also became more about dousing oneself with water simply to hop on the bandwagon. Davidson’s article on the TIME magazine website challenges causes to rethink how they move past the novelty aspect of tapping into influence to drive change.
SA embraced the challenge, with local celebrities dousing water over their heads and challenging their peers to either do the same or donate towards MND, which gives it a localised context.
SA People shared how South Africans can get involved in donating towards MND research or taking the challenge themselves. Part of the criticism was that whoever gets challenged and takes it on did not necessarily have to make a donation and that part of the message got lost in the video sharing.
This challenge raised both awareness and over US$100 million in donations, according to Dan Diamond’s findings on Forbes.
The dark side
When YOU Magazine recently used pictures of celebrities in which their heads had been photoshopped bald, a fair share of influencer backlash from various publications and individuals on the social web — both online and in the real world — was received.
In an apology published on its website, YOU Magazine states that its 23 October issue caused great debate but not in the way it was intended. The campaign led to positive social media responses for the Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA), but the dark cloud remained because it seems that more news platforms picked up on the negative coverage than spread the intended message from the campaign.
Influence in action
In the midst of people pouring water over their heads and YOU Magazine putting out fires, Don Packett — a comedian, MC and professional speaker — has quietly conceptualised Kaalkop For Cancer, where he’s cut his hair and intends to raise funds for CANSA or another similar organisation. Packett plans to drive action because while awareness and clicks alone may drive awareness but the key is to take action, make donations or do something that assists a charity organisation.
Kaalkop For Cancer extends an invitation to viewers to watch the video, so they will understand why Packett has taken this course of action and chosen to share it on social media. Unlike other initiatives that go viral on social media, every time someone watches the video, Packett will donate R1 per view towards an organisation such as CANSA after all the views have been collated on 31 December 2014.
One of the influencers who has shared the Kaalkop For Cancer initiative is tech journalist and “human behind Women in Tech”, Samantha Perry. In Perry’s opinion, most initiatives fall short in getting people to take the action necessary to help to keep the doors open of these worthy organisations. “It’s an issue that gets a lot of coverage already, but things like cleavage pictures as your Twitter avatar for breast cancer awareness are pointless if people don’t DO something,” she says, referring to other cancer initiatives.
If you would like to get involved with Kaalkop For Cancer, watch the video below and make a pledge.
It’s easy to get lost in the excitement of the millions of YouTube views, which I shamelessly hope Kaalkop Packett gets, instead of connecting it to why people should take an action in support of a cause.
Connect the dots
Here are some things to think about prior to planning your campaign:
- Clarify the action and the intended outcome.
- Communicate the progress with your community.
- Set a clear timeline for the duration of the campaign.
- If you adopt an international initiative, contextualise it for the local audience.
Mongezi Mtati (@Mongezi) is the founding MD of WordStart (www.wordstart.co.za). Apart from being a kiteboarding and sandboarding adventurer, Mongezi connects companies and brands with measurable word-of-mouth. He contributes the monthly “The Word” column on word-of-mouth marketing and social media strategy to MarkLives.
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